Frustration made him want to break something. He didn’t like having his back to the wall. He sure as hell didn’t like having so much at stake. Cursing her and wanting her with an intensity that was maddening, he reached out and pulled her to him.
“Damn you.” He could feel his need for her digging into him. The heady rush of blood pooling in his groin. And he couldn’t believe he could want her at a time like this, when everything was tangled and wrong. But he did. More than his next breath.
Pulling back slightly, he gazed into her eyes. “If anything happens to you—”
She pressed her finger to his mouth, silencing him. “Nothing’s going to happen,” she whispered. “I promise.”
It took every bit of discipline he possessed to pull away, but somehow he managed. Mechanically he started the engine and put the Jeep into gear. Five minutes later they were on the highway, heading toward the Bitterroot prison.
It was then that he remembered Alisa’s last words to him had been chillingly similar to Emily’s.
HALF AN HOUR LATER, ZACK stopped the Jeep in a deserted mountain town that consisted of a ramshackle motel, a defunct gold mine and a gas station touting an oil change for sixteen ninety-nine. Leaving Emily in the Jeep, he went directly to the pay phone at the service station.
He knew he was taking a risk by making the call. But there was no way he and Emily could walk into the prison without some backup. Zack did the only thing he could think of and circumvented his usual point of contact.
The operatives at MIDNIGHT were never to contact any fellow agent or superior at home. But Zack had never played by the rules; he knew a call to the agency would lead to another ambush. And so he broke every rule in the book and went directly to the top of the organizational chart. He called Avery Shaw at home. Breaking protocol would probably cost him his job, but he figured that was a hell of a lot better than getting himself—or God forbid, Emily—killed.
He’d known Avery Shaw for five years. He was a good agent, a good man. He’d been there the night Alisa died. He’d talked Zack down when Zack had been on a very precipitous edge and about to leap. He’d been the one to contact Alisa’s family. He’d picked Zack up off the floor when Zack had been too drunk to do it himself. He’d treated him like an agent when Zack had felt as if he would never be able to work again.
“Shaw.” A sleep-roughened voice rumbled on the other end of the line.
“This is Devlin.”
A long, pregnant silence ensued. “What the hell are you doing calling me at home?”
“Trying to save my ass, no thanks to you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“That means you have a mole within your ranks, mate. A mole who just about got me bloody killed.”
Another meaningful silence ensued. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know. I called my regular contact to set up a meet. And I got ambushed. Thought you might want to know.”
“Hell, yes, I want to know.”
Zack heard rustling on the other end of the line and imagined the other man getting out of bed.
“I’m pulling you out,” Shaw said.
“Like hell.”
“Let me remind you of something, Devlin. I’m calling the shots. I say you’re out and you’re out. You got that?”
“I didn’t spend four months in that hellhole to walk away empty-handed,” Zack said.
“And I don’t feel like having to bury another agent!”
Zack closed his eyes briefly at the mention of Alisa but said nothing.
“Pull out now,” Shaw snapped, “or I swear I’ll bring charges against you.”
“We’re going into the prison tonight.”
“Damn it, Devlin, that’s a suicide mission. Don’t do it.”
“I thought you should know in case we don’t come out. We’re going for the big dogs, Avery, and big dogs bite.”
“You connected someone at the top?”
“Yeah, and we’re going to bring them down.”
“We? For God’s sake, don’t tell me you’re talking about Emily Monroe.”
Zack had anticipated Shaw figuring out he and Emily were working together, but it didn’t make him feel any less a fool. “Don’t do anything that will get us killed, Avery.”
“I’ll leave the getting killed part up to you!” Shaw shot back. “You know there are two other operatives in the prison. They can help if you get into a tight spot.”
Zack figured he was already in as tight a spot as a man could be and not get squeezed to death. “As far as you know, one of them is the mole.”
“No way.”
“Do me a favor and don’t bet my life on it, okay?”
“I’m going to personally bring charges against you when I get my hands on you.”
“If I’m still alive, it’s a deal.” Knowing the other man had already begun tracing the call, Zack smiled and disconnected.
Chapter Sixteen
“Who was that?” Emily asked when he got back into the Jeep.
“An old friend.”
“Odd time for you to call an old friend.”
Zack said nothing and he didn’t meet her gaze.
“If you’re trying to be subtle about evading my question, you’re not doing a very good job of it.”